Making another quick trip to Arizona to fill the water tanks and automatic bird feeders, and to check the game cameras at our Desert Photo Retreat. We head down for the season around Thanksgiving.
Desert Waterhole
Great Plains Nature Photographers Talk
This is going to be really fun – I’m doing an all day talk for the Great Plains Nature Photographers group in McPherson, Kansas on Saturday November 9th, 2019! Also, we will be doing a sunset shoot at Maxwell Wildlife Refuge the evening before.
This large gathering of nature photographers has been taking place for something like 20 years. I’m proud to be included in their long list of presenters over the years. It will be fun to be speaking in such a beautiful building! Follow this link to register: Great Plains Nature Photographers. It only cost $15!
So here is one I’m planning on presenting:
Animalscapes. This is my most popular presentation and covers combining landscape and wildlife photography. It gets people to look at wildlife photography a bit different, and you don’t need fancy telephoto lenses, the techniques and concepts I discuss would work with a cell phone.
Alaska. This is for people who have never been to Alaska, but have wanted to visit, or folks who have been, but are looking for something different. I cover a lot of amazing places that might not be on everyone radar. Many are off the beaten path, but I also talk about how to approach the more popular places like Denali National Park from a photographers perspective.
Improving Your Photography. In this presentation, I talk about the things I consider and look for when creating a photograph. A bit of my thought process with many examples.
Camera Trapping and Remote Photography. This is a fast growing area of wildlife photography that has lead to the capture of some amazing and unique wildlife images. Take a look at many contest winners in recent years and you will see a lot images captured with traps and triggers. Again, it doesn’t take expensive telephoto gear, but a fairly modest investment of money. I’ll touch on the gear, techniques and other considerations.
Falkland, South Georgia and Antarctica. This is a photo journey to the Southern Oceans where I’ll talk about not only my favorites places, but will also offer travel advice. There are some things that most people aren’t aware of that can make a big difference in a trip to this amazing region, especially for serous photographers.
Vole Hunter
Last June I watched this fox repeatedly catch and release this poor little vole. At one point the vole got into some big rocks and almost escaped.
Crimps Cub?
This is one of those special moments that seem to happen throughout my bear trips – moments I’ll likely never forget, and what make each trip special and unique.
This young sub adult was feeding on the sedges in the meadow near the lodge. We decided to walk out and get a closer look and to make photographs. To avoid the heat, thanks to Alaska’s crazy hot summer this year, we decided to sit in the shade provided by a nearby “tree island”. Not long after sitting down the young bear started walking towards us, leaving any possible food source behind. That always gets your attention a little bit. The young bear reached the edge of the same tree shadow we were sitting in, and non-nonchalantly laid down in very close proximity to us. Even crossing its paws, which is a sure sign it didn’t feel threatened. The young bear then laid its head on its paws and relaxed, obviously very comfortable in our presence.
Some of my repeat guests immediately started wondering if this wasn’t one of crimps cubs. Crimp is a very popular sow who’s cubs were now on their own for the first time this summer. These are cubs I have watched grow up over the years from spring cubs, to now sub-adults out on their own for the first time. Without a specific marking like their mom’s crimped ear, there is no way of knowing if this really was one of crimps cubs, but given its behavior, I sure like to think so. 🙂
Given Crimps busy activity with the boars this spring, I would say it is very likely she will have another set of spring cubs this upcoming spring, and the amazing cycle will begin again. I’m already looking forward to the spring!
Standing Bear
I love the human like qualities bears take on when they stand. From June.
Olympus E-M1X, 40-150 f/2.8 lens at 150. ISO 800, 1/250th second at f/2.8
Play Time!
A couple of brown bears avoiding the heat by playing in the ocean – last June at Lake Clark National Park, Alaska.
More Aurora
From earlier this month – this weekend could be another great aurora show!
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Olympus E-M1X, with a 8mm f/ 1.8 lens at f/2.2, ISO 3200 and 3.2 second exposure. Really pleased with the lack of noise in the Olympus.
Hope, Alaska
Did some driving around and exploring during a private workshop yesterday – the Fall colors are really looking great!
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